November 26, 2003  (Back to Job Creation Act)

(Green Bay, WI)  The Clean Water Action Council today filed a formal ethics complaint against Senator Cathy Stepp, chair of the new Job Creation committee created by the Legislature. The complaint alleges that Stepp is using her position as chair to promote a bill that will provide her with substantial personal financial gain.

Stepp owns First Stepp Builders in Racine, a construction firm. The Job Creation Act of 2003 proposed by Stepp and other Republicans in the Legislature will dramatically weaken the standards and enforcement of Chapter 30 under the Wisconsin Statutes. These changes will deregulate many construction activities along Wisconsin’s lakes, rivers and streams, resulting in thousands of dollars in reduced permitting, oversight and consulting costs for builders. 

Essentially, the Job Creation Act would change the law to allow the builders themselves to interpret and self-impose weakened standards, with no government or public oversight. A statewide general permit would be created for blanket approval of activities along most Wisconsin waterways, such as bridge construction, grading of stream banks, placement of culverts, straightening waterways, and even diverting sections of streams. The public could comment on general permit activities only after the activity is approved and underway. Builders themselves would be allowed to judge whether their projects destroy scenic beauty along the waterfront. The Act has broad-ranging impacts, with additional sections also benefiting builders like Stepp.

“Stepp appears to be lining her own pockets with this legislation, at the expense of public rights in the waterways of Wisconsin,” charged Rebecca Katers, Executive Director of Clean Water Action Council. “At yesterday’s hearing in Milwaukee on the Job Creation Act, Stepp abused her position as chair to make repeated speeches about the benefits of the Act and falsely claim that the Act will not weaken Wisconsin’s environmental standards. In addition, she favored business lobbyists who testified in support of the Act. For example, representatives of the business organization called Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) played a major role in writing the Act’s language and were given at least a half hour to tell anecdotal and unverifiable stories about businesses leaving Wisconsin because of ‘excessive regulation,’ while those testifying against the Act because of environmental concerns were generally cut off at 5 minutes. Several environmental speakers' comments were immediately declared invalid, as Stepp claimed that the speakers environmental concerns were unfounded. George Meyer, speaking on behalf of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, was harassed for DNR’s actions, when he was not there to represent the DNR and hasn’t been Secretary of the DNR for at least 3 years. He was there representing a very large citizen organization in Wisconsin.

“In my case, I waited 4 hours to give 5 minutes of testimony, only to have Chairperson Stepp interrupt my testimony several times because she didn’t want to hear what I was saying,” stated Katers. “This is not balanced, fair conduct of a public hearing. When citizens come to testify, legislators should sit still and listen. This is a public hearing, for hearing comments from the public, not a soapbox for business lobbyists masquerading as legislators.”

When Stepp ran for election, she won only narrowly - after special interests in the building, construction and real estate industry contributed more than $80,000 to her election campaign.

“It certainly appears that Stepp got elected in order to weaken state laws regulating her own business and the businesses of her cronies. This is not ethical behavior and should not be tolerated in Wisconsin government,” concluded Katers. 

For more information on the ethics complaint, call Katers, at 920-437-7304 (work) or 920-468-4243 (home)
 

See Cathy Stepp's Campaign Finance Profile for 2002 --- from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

See website for First Stepp Builders

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